Regulation of assault weapons isn’t the only home-rule power that the General Assembly yanked from Ohio’s cities and villages. Earlier, in 2004, the legislature denied Ohio’s 900-plus cities and villages any authority over the “permitting, location, and spacing of oil and gas wells.”

You don’t want someone fracking in your neighborhood? Don’t waste your breath at City Hall: No mayor can do much to help. Instead, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources is supposed to police what the oil and gas industry does, including fracking.

That 2004 measure – which had bipartisan support – was House Bill 278. Its sponsor was then-Rep. Thomas Niehaus, a suburban Cincinnati Republican, later a state senator, then Senate president. Today, he’s a Statehouse lobbyist whose 30 clients include the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.

Here’s how then-Justice William O’Neill explained HB 278 in a state Supreme Court dissent. O’Neill, a Chagrin Falls Democrat, is among six Democrats running for this year’s Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

O’Neill’s dissent included this take on the court’s decision: “Under this ruling, a drilling permit could be granted in the exquisite residential neighborhoods of [Franklin County’s] Upper Arlington, [Greater Cleveland’s] Shaker Heights, or the [Hamilton County] village of Indian Hill – local zoning dating back to 1920 be damned.”

Litigation over the 2004 law, and over fracking, continues. Meanwhile, though, amnesia is an Ohio politician’s best friend.

So here, in alphabetical order, are people who today hold elected state office but in 2004, as Ohio House or Senate members, voted “yes” to pass House Bill 278 and thus strip Ohio cities and villages of power over oil and gas drilling:

State Rep. Keith Faber, a Celina Republican running for state auditor;
state Rep. Theresa Fedor, a Toledo Democrat running for the state Senate;
state Sen. Randy Gardner, a Bowling Green Republican;
state Sen. Jay Hottinger, a Newark Republican;
then-state Rep. Nancy P. Hollister, a Marietta Republican, later Ohio’s interim governor, now a State Board of Education member;
state Rep. Larry Householder, a Perry County Republican aiming to be elected Ohio House Speaker in 2019;
state Rep. Jim Hughes, a Columbus Republican;
then-state Rep. Jon Husted, now Ohio’s secretary of state, a Republican running for lieutenant governor on Mike DeWine’s GOP gubernatorial ticket;
state Sen. Scott Oelslager, a North Canton Republican running for the Ohio House;
state Rep. Thomas F. (Tom) Patton, a Strongsville Republican;
then-state Sen. Joy Padgett, a Coshocton Republican running against former Ohio Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery for Montgomery’s Republican State Central Committee seat;
state Rep. Tim Schaffer, a Lancaster Republican;
state Rep. William Seitz, a suburban Cincinnati Republican;
state Rep. Kirk Schuring, a suburban Canton Republican running for the state Senate;
state Sen. Michael Skindell, a Lakewood Democrat running for the Ohio House;
and state Rep. Ron Young, a LeRoy Township Republican.
Also voting “yes” were Rep. Jim Hoops, a Napoleon Republican, and then-Rep. Jamie Callender, a Concord Republican running for the House this year.

Those now in state office who voted “no” on HB 268:
state Rep. Thomas Brinkman, a Cincinnati Republican;
and then-state Rep. Mary Taylor, a suburban Akron Republican, later Ohio’s auditor, now its lieutenant governor. Taylor is competing with Mike DeWine for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.
Also voting “no” was then-Rep. James Trakas, an Independence Republican running for the House this year.

Voters added home rule to the Ohio Constitution in 1912 to fight Statehouse end-runs – by big lobbies – that ignored communities’ health, safety and quality-of-life concerns. Those concerns are still pressing. But so are the lobbies. And, at the moment, they’re winning.

Thomas Suddes, a member of the editorial board, writes from Athens.

To reach Thomas Suddes: tsuddes@cleveland.com, 216-999-4689

Have something to say about this topic? Use the comments to share your thoughts. Then, stay informed when readers reply to your comments by using the “Follow” option at the top of the comments, and look for updates via the small blue bell in the lower right as you look at more stories on cleveland.com.

Gas wells being dug by Rice Energy Inc. in Warnock, Ohio, in the center of Belmont County, on April 4, 2017. Thomas Suddes lists the lawmakers who voted for the 2004 law that pre-empts local control of oil and gas drilling.(John Funk, The Plain Dealer)

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